Tag Archives: grocery store

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I adore peanut butter. I have it every morning with my breakfast and I manage to sneak in a few spoonfuls from the jar at least once a day. I’m a proud crunchy fan and I might go so far as to call myself an aficionado of peanut butter. Unsurprisingly, my favorite kind of sandwich is peanut butter and jelly. I’m unabashedly in love with the stuff,

When I got to college, however, I was a little surprised. Yes, all of the dining halls have peanut butter but they have Skippy or Jif. While this may not seem strange to anyone else, I grew up eating the type of peanut butter that required a thorough stirring before ingestion in order to incorporate the oil floating on the top. This was normal at home. I’m confident that before I got to New York, I had maybe had commercial peanut once or twice before. But, as that was all they had, I began eating it. And, I kind of loved it. That kind of peanut butter is almost like dessert and given the amounts of sugar in it, one could probably eat it for dessert as well. Needless to say, I did feel a little guilty; like I was betraying the organic peanut butter I was so used to at home.

In order to assuage my guilt, I turned to my favorite store in the world, Westside Market. Several times before, I had seen their selection of homemade peanut butter but I had never picked any up before. I went back to try their natural peanut butter. When I got there, I noticed that they also made homemade almond butter and cashew butter, but those would have to wait for another time. I was here for the peanut butter.

I took it home and tasted it in its most pure form: straight from the little plastic container. Upon first taste, I remembered what peanuts actually taste like. This was definitely homemade. It was much chunkier and thicker than the Skippy at school. And it was delicious. So now I’m stuck in between my desire to eat junk food peanut butter and my desire to eat naturally. Alas, maybe I can have both? But be warned, if you’re attempting to make a peanut butter and jelly with this peanut butter, be careful, because I have a feeling it will tear up normal sandwich bread fairly easily. But if you’re anything like me, all you need is a spoon to be happy.

One of our new bloggers, Sarah gets down at our beloved 110th & Broadway, 24 hour grocery store loved for its salads by the ounce, cold oatmeal, and funky produce. Today, Sarah gives us the lowdown on kale.

For a food geek like me, Westside Market is heaven. Every nook and cranny of the store is crammed full of food and there are not enough eyes in my head to take it all in at once. Walking into the market for the first time, I felt a sense of complete excitement and anticipation. I think I ended up spending close to an hour in there because I just kept finding new things to stare at. My mind jumped around maniacally: Dried peaches? They squeeze their own juice? What an amazing salad bar! Cashew butter? Eventually, I walked out with some interesting additions to my dorm room food collection, among them: raw kale chips with vegan cheese.

Now, I’m not going to lie and say that eating vegan and raw foods really makes much sense to me. I can’t fathom an existence without ice cream and eating raw would basically eliminate the main portion of my diet. But lately there has been a major trend in following strict diets that “cleanse” your body by ridding it of all the nasty chemicals we feed it everyday. So, when I saw “Brad’s Raw Leafy Kale” sitting innocently next to the hummus (which I admit was my first priority), it intrigued me. I decided to give raw foods a try and took some of the “vampire killer” flavor home with me. I reasoned that if anything would make raw kale chips taste better it would be garlic. Continue reading Westside Watch: Adventures in the World of Veganism→